to everybody in america but the speaker. mr. speaker, get back to ohio and ask some of those families about whether middle-class families should pay higher taxes january 1. the answer's clear. they should not. it is within this power of the speaker john boehner to bring to the floor of the house today, today a measure that passed the senate in july, that will protect families making $250,000 a year or less. what i hear from the speaker is we won't protect middle-class families until you agree to raise the retirement age, the eligibility age for medicare. well, i have said to all who have asked, i believe in entitlement reform. i believe medicare going broke in 12 years is a serious challenge to all of us, but i am loathe to see us make a policy change in medicare in the closing days of this month that we have to live with and can't explain. here's the part you can't complain. if you increase the eligibility age from medicare to 65 to 67, what's a person to do who retires at 63 or 64 with a medical condition? where are they going